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CSAIL researchers to teach MIT's first online professional course on Big Data

9 January 2014

MIT Launches First Online Professional Course on Big Data

Tackling the Challenges of Big Data, running March 4 – April 1

Cambridge, Mass. – MIT will offer its first online professional course, Tackling the Challenges of Big Data, to a global audience beginning March 4, 2014. The four-week online course, aimed at technical professionals and executives, will tackle state-of-the-art topics in big data ranging from data collection, storage and processing to analytics and visualization, as well as address a range of real world applications. Leading the course will be 12 faculty experts from the world-renowned MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at the School of Engineering.

The course will be offered through MIT Professional Education, the arm of MIT that provides professional education and training for science, engineering and technology professionals worldwide. It will be the first of a new line of professional programs called Online X Programs, to be delivered globally using the MIT and Harvard founded open-sourced online education platform, edX. The course will provide companies and organizations the ability to offer training and education to their employees on a topic that confronts most industries today. Upon completion, participants will receive an MIT Professional Education certificate of completion and access to MIT Professional Education’s expansive professional alumni network. The course will be offered at $495.

“MIT Professional Education is pleased to be able to offer a unique and comprehensive online course addressing a very important challenge facing industry today,” said Bhaskar Pant, executive director of MIT Professional Education. “With the teaching power of a ‘who’s who’ list of thought leaders on the subject from CSAIL, I am confident this course will allow industry players to not only learn of new approaches to big data, but will spark innovative thinking among teams charged with finding solutions to big data challenges.”

"Big Data technologies will help us better understand and improve the world around us," said Daniela Rus,Andrew (1956) and Erna ViterbiProfessor of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, director of CSAIL and co-director of the online course. “Tackling the Challenges of Big Data will provide a one-of-a-kind learning experience for professionals looking to learn about the tools and skills they need to solve their big data problems."

Sanjay Sarma, director of the MIT Office of Digital Learning and the Fred Fort Flowers & Daniel Fort Flowers Professor of Mechanical Engineering, said, “I am thrilled with MIT Professional Education’s Online X course offering of Tackling the Challenges of Big Data as part of MIT’s digital learning portfolio. Our goal is to expand access to MIT’s knowledge and expertise globally via online courses. A course on a high interest topic such as big data is a perfect way for us to begin addressing the learning needs of working professionals who may not otherwise be able to come to MIT to attend courses.”

Immediate registration is available at http://onlinex.mit.edu/bigdata. The course can be taken by individuals across all industries or by large groups of employees from the same organization. For general questions, please email onlinex@mit.edu.

For 65 years MIT Professional Education has been providing those professionals engaged in engineering, science and technology worldwide, a gateway to renowned MIT research, knowledge and expertise through
advanced education programs designed specifically for working professionals.